I usually don't get into "ways to boost your traffic" type posts but this post by Aaron Stannard of Marketing-Ninja.com asked a question that I think has wider implications so I wanted to address it.  Essentially he got a StumbleUpon request from a stranger pointing to a post on that stranger's site.  He decided to give that person the benefit of the doubt and was rewarded with a steady stream of similar requests (StumbleSpam if you will).  This is obviously not how StumbleUpon was intended to be used.

He then goes on to say...

So here’s my question; isn’t what Andy’s doing, adding people as friends and flinging off Stumble requests, fundamentally wrong? Isn’t the entire point of StumbleUpon to share interesting content with your friends, not to promote your own content using strangers?*

And what if Andy and I sent each other Stumble requests on a regular basis for the sake of helping each other acquire more traffic? Wouldn’t this be an instance of reciprocal stumbling, which is against the StumbleUpon Terms of Service?

The reason I even bother writing this post, is because it looks like whatever Andy’s doing: it works.

He’s got a great amount of traffic, comments, and hell, he’s even doing some guest blogging for Blogging Tips.

The reason I even bother writing this post, is because it looks like whatever Andy’s doing: it works.

He’s got a great amount of traffic, comments, and hell, he’s even doing some guest blogging for Blogging Tips.

I see two questions here: "Why does this work?" and "Is this the right thing to do?"  I've put my answers to those questions below...

Why does this work?

To a certain extent it is part of the human condition to appease.  If you have a co-worker who is constantly telling you bad jokes you probably won't tell them to stop.  You'll spend a second listening to each joke and then go on with your day because its the path of least resistance.   It would be more trouble for you to confront him so you are willing to give him a few seconds of your daily time to avoid that. 

But here's the important point, you don't start thinking that co-worker has a good sense of humor because you continue to listen to his jokes.  You're just appeasing him. 

Is the "spamming" method the right thing to do?

In the above example the co-worker wants you to think they're a funny person, that's why they are constantly telling you jokes.  But they don't really accomplish that goal which is where I think the answer to Aaron's original question lies.

Probably the most important lesson I've learned in life is to trace my goals back to their source and ask myself what it is I really want.  So while a lot of people get tricked into thinking their goal is "to get more traffic" that's never actually anyone's goal.  Traffic in itself is pointless. 

The goal is in what the traffic actually MEANS to you.  Whether its respect, monetary gain, or any host of other motivations the boost in traffic is just a means to an end.  What that "end" is will answer whether doing things this way is the right thing to do. 

If you are just trying to generate money from adsense clicks, the StumbleUpon spam might make sense.  Again, it works.  People will come.  You might even be able to con another site into letting you guest post based on your ill gotten traffic.  But in the end most won't respect you. 

But If your goal is to be respected by people, to actually build yourself up in their eyes, you're better off shying away from this type of thing.  Though it might mean giving up some traffic in the here and now people will respect you more in the long run. 

I think its vital to remind ourselves of long term consequences when looking at the world around us.  So while the Bank Robber may very well get rich in the short term the cost of that money is a lifetime spent looking over their shoulder for fear of getting caught.  Unless you remind yourself of that long term consequence you'll just see a guy getting rich quick which doesn't begin to tell the whole story.